Matters of the Family
by TNM-Writer
Summary: Athena hadn't meant to stumble upon the boy wonder Hecate had been muttering about lately. She certainly hadn't planned for staying with him and his friend after their other friend had left, nor did she plan on training them for a war. The biggest thing she didn't plan for, but didn't regret, was deciding that the boy wonder was worthy. But really; all she had wanted was coffee! OC
1. Chapter 1

The cup of coffee was warm in her hands, as she strolled through the woods. Athena didn't leave America often much, but she loved the way British people brewed their coffee and almost always made sure to grab a cup if she happened to be in the area. Taking another sip of the warm drink, she was about to flash back to Olympus when she felt it.

Magic. Not the way Hecate's worked, not her children's either, but more so of Hecate's bastardized version of Mortals'. Turning her head, she narrowed her eyes, and saw past the magical barrier. A tent sat in the woods, with plentiful with strong protection and hiding charms and enchantments. Two young teens stood just behind the barrier, watching her warily; a boy and a girl. They looked as though they were on the run, which wouldn't surprise her, she had heard Hecate bitching about Voldemort and his army, and also rooting for this 'Harry Potter' boy.

The male was tall, with skin that appeared to have tanned over long time in the sun, with black hair that looked as though it was constantly going through a windstorm. His bright green eyes were slightly hidden behind round black glasses, and a lightning bolt shaped scar stood out in angry red on his forehead. Athena wondered how arrogant this mortal was, to have her father's symbol on his body.

The female, though, had brown hair cut short into a bob, paler skin and teeth that must have been through braces they were so straight. Chocolate brown eyes showed determination uncannily similar to the male's, but also heartbreak; she had lost someone she loved recently.

"These are very nice enchantments." Athena commented, taking another sip of her coffee, and the two teens jolted, realizing she could see them. "I wonder who you are to take such extreme measures…"

The male's wand whipped out in such speed that succeeded in any mortal wizard she had ever met, pointed straight at her jugular in her neck. Athena merely smiled, knowing that this mortal couldn't kill her. He was right to be suspicious, and the girl's grip on her own wand tightened.

"Show us your arm." The boy ordered swiftly. "Both of them."

"I have coffee." Athena answered sharply. "I am no danger to you."

"Just do it." The boy barked, like a true soldier, and whispered to the girl, "Hermione, roll up her sleeves."

Hermione stepped forward and rolled up both of Athena's sleeves, exposing her forearms to the harsh November cold; the unmarred, skin relaxed them, but the boy's wand didn't stray from her neck.

"How did you see past the enchantments?" Hermione asked, a look in her eyes that reminded Athena of her own children when they were on a roll in a discovery.

She would like this one.

"I am powerful." Was all Athena answered, "I have nothing that could endager you, so would you kindly remove the wand from my neck?"

The boy's eyes narrowed, but he complied, but held it at a ready length. "Who are you?"

"Astra Olympia." Athena answered carefully. "I still don't know who you are."

Now the boy, with that statement, relaxed completely, but looked shocked. "You don't know?" Athena shook her head; this boy was arrogant, was he, to think that she, a Goddess, (though he didn't know it) would know his name. "Then you don't know what's going on right now…"

"I have heard whispers of war." Athena told him truthfully. "But I have retreated to non-magical America, and haven't been inside the Wizarding World in years since I graduated Salem." Hecate had mentioned the Oregon school of magic once.

His shoulders tensed. "Well, there's a war going on alright. How old are you?"

"24." Athena lied.

"Several years." Hermione mumbled to the male. "You would have been ten. You're not as known in non-European countries, she would have been seven when it all happened, it's nothing odd that she wouldn't know."

The male nodded, content with Hermione's explanation; that was a surprise to Athena. Men, as she mostly came across, were too prideful to take any sort of advice from a women, let alone a full blown explanation. She only met twelve men so far in the past decade or so that were worthy enough to have children with, and they had also been stubborn similarly.

"Harry Potter." The male told her grudgingly, and stuck out his other hand. "Nice to meet you."

"A pleasure." Athena said, taking it and giving it a firm shake, and doing the same when Hermione introduced herself as Hermione Granger.

_This was the boy Hecate wanted to win a war? _Athena thought incredulously. He wasn't even eighteen yet, and it was obvious to the way they talked to her at the camp fire that they had no sort of training in any kind of combat, or tactics, and they only had each other. Hermione was the brains of the group, but Harry, the enforcer and leader type, had a battle tactic mind that made Athena hungry to develop further.

Did Hecate think a _young teen_ could defeat a whole army? Athena felt insulted, as she had once fought Ares for the title of God/dess of War. Her intuition was telling her that she must stay and wait out this battle that was coming, and train these two to soldiers they were obviously meant to be.

Starting with Harry's natural strategic thought process.

**adsfjasdlfaoawfonasdcoanoaodskandfsoh**

Athena ate the food they had scavenged thoughtfully, seeing how much Harry and Hermione had grown under her tutelage. They had grown tremendously in the two weeks they'd traveled together, and Athena could only keep the with-façade up for so long before it got tiresome. She hadn't a wand, no spells that she knew or were able to teach the two, and hardly any knowledge of the past history. It was becoming an annoyance.

"I'll take first watch tonight." She said to the brunet girl and raven haired boy who both gave her thankful looks; Harry was tortured mentally every night by Voldemort, the one they were fighting at the moment and trying to find his Horcruxes, and Hermione was up constantly trying to learn as much as possible to help them, so neither liked first watch.

It also gave her a chance to slip away. So that night, casting an image of herself there with the Mist, she transformed into a snow white owl and took off into the night sky. Once far away enough, she transported herself to Olympus. Athena instantly found herself under Zeus' gaze.

Zeus didn't comment on her arrival, as Athena knew it was not uncommon for Gods to disappear for insane amounts of time. After all, just look at Pan! That God was either dead or in hiding. Probably both.

Winding her way through Olympus to Hecate's temple, she didn't bother knocking. She had never liked the Magic Goddess, and Hecate returned the favor tenfold, so it was best her not to know Athena was there. Her archives were full of wands, some never used, and books. Athena spent her time browsing through the shelves, knowing that any wand in the temple would work for a God or Goddess. She grabbed many books off the shelves, casting a single spell she'd learnt from Hermione wandlessly onto the side bag she'd had when she first met them, to make it bottomless.

Dumping the books (an assortment of defensive, offensive, medical, and other magical texts) into the bag, she grabbed a wand box that read; _Wood from a Pomegranate tree in Persephone's garden, the heartstring of a drakon for a core, 12"._ Waving it once, she was pleased with the gray and silver sparks that shot out from it.

Transported away, she shifted into her owl form and returned to the camp where her Mist image dissipated instantly upon her arrival.

The next morning, Harry and Hermione were pleased to finally learn some magic from her. Athena had forgotten how joyous teaching was, she would most likely use it as her next cover in the mortal world.

Harry exceled in all kinds of combat training she put him through, but long distance was his best, as with any wizard or witch who trained long enough. Athena summed it up to the fact that wands and spells were long distance weapons and because of that, magical people were more used to and comfortable with being at long distance when fighting.

With this conclusion, she upped Harry and Hermione's close combat training so that they could catch other wizards and witches off guard.

Both had their bad habits, though; Harry was mule headed, jumping head first into things he didn't understand, and Hermione's curiosity that was near unsuitable lead her to asking question after question about Athena's past. She was forced to come up with backgrounds off the top of her head, and had trouble keeping them in order, and to make sure they didn't overlap with each other.

Soon, Christmas time came around. Athena knew that Hermione and Harry had gone to Godrics Hollow to visit his parents' grave, and didn't comment on the fact that they were trying to hide their expedition from her. That didn't mean she didn't get the right to scold them thoroughly when they came back and Harry was injured. They'd had an encounter with Nagini, Voldemort's apparent snake pet that followed his every command and was quite poisonous.

When Harry went out in the middle of the night and returned with Ron, Athena watched, amused as the reunion between the red head and Hermione turned passive violent. Carefully walking up to Harry, she pulled him out of the tent.

"What is it, Astra?" Harry asked, concerned.

"My time with you and Hermione has come to an end." Athena told him, and his head reared back, eyes wide. "I'm afraid I must go."

"But you still have so much to teach us!" Harry protested.

"I have taught you all I know." And it was true, in the magical sense; she had learned as she taught, and Harry and Hermione knew more than enough in physical training. "You will win this war, Harry, I am sure of it." Especially because she gave him the Gift of Athena, the night before.

"You could go to the Weasleys." Harry pleaded. "You could live with us."

Athena's smile warmed considerably. "Thank you for the offer, but I still have family back in America, who are most likely very worried about where I have been." Harry flinched; she knew he wanted to have a large family, and that he secretly wanted her apart of it, and had she been mortal, she would have gladly taken it. "You have your own family to worry about, and soon your family will grow as the danger ends. This is good bye, Harry. Use what I've taught you and Hermione well, and you may keep my books."

His eyes were wet, and he suddenly launched himself at Athena, arms wrapping tightly around her. "We'll miss you."

Athena's arms squeezed him lightly. "And I, you. Farewell."

And then she was gone.

In Olympus, she put a hand to her temple, and smiled. Harry would have a family to worry about after the war was over with. She had deemed him such a worthy mortal that she would give him a demigod child, her and his own, even if he did not know that.

**NINE MONTHS LATER, THE WAR IS OVER**

Harry sat out on the steps of the Burrow, staring up at the sky. The final battle was over, and his mind kept wandering to Ginny, or Teddy, his family, and sometimes, late at night, or now, to Astra. He wondered where the blonde haired, grey eyed warrior of a woman was now; with her family in America?

"Harry." He knew that voice; lifting his head, he stared wide eyed at the familiar, long haired woman. She carried a bundle in her arms now, and her eyes were filled with sadness.

"Astra!" He said gleefully, standing and hurried over to her, only to freeze at the look in her soft grey eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I am not allowed to keep her." She whispered, as if telling him a real secret, her grip on the bundle tightening. "I wish I could, or how I do, but I cannot. If I cannot raise her, though, you are the noblest and kindest man I know who will. Please, raise her." She handed him the bundle, and as the weight settled in his arm, it adjusted just as it had when he held Teddy for the first time.

Moving the blanket, he gasped. A small baby girl, who looked only days old, with blond hair on her head, and eyes closed, though he guessed they were grey, with soft facial features, and a slightly upturned nose. The little baby girl slept soundly in his arms. Harry's heart pounded as he looked back at Astra.

As much as she wanted to yell at the woman for abandoning her child, there was real grief in her eyes. She didn't want to give the baby girl up, and the haunted look in her eyes made him see that. Astra truly believed that he would be the only one suitable to raise her.

Harry's decision was made right then, with a single glance at the baby again, he asked. "What's her name?"

"Bethany Hermia." Astra answered softly, her eyes filled with motherly love. "Potter, if you'd please."

Harry nodded. "I'd be honored." She smiled, as if already knowing he would say that.

"Someday, she will have to go to a camp. She is not a witch, but something even more extraordinary." She whispered to him. "Once you find out, only your immediate family, as in the ones who live in your house, may know. That is for yours and their safety. She will be in danger once she is old enough, meaning you will be, too. Once she's at least nine, take her there for there; it'll be like a boarding school, like Hogwarts, and she'll come home during the summer. It's the only safe place for others like her, where she will learn to hone the skills she will have."

Harry felt as though he were being let in on the secret of the universe. "Where is the camp?"

"Camp Half Blood, Half Blood Hill, Farm Road 3.141 Long Island, New York 11954." Astra said. "Remember it, never write it down though. Thank you, Harry."

He blinked, and she was gone, leaving Bethany sleeping in his arms.

"Harry?" He turned to see Ginny standing in the doorway. "Were you talking to…what's that in your arms?"

"Bethany." Harry told her, walking towards her to show her the baby girl. "I'm adopting her." He gave no other indication that she wasn't his. He wouldn't give away Astra just yet.

Ginny's eyes softened. "She's perfect, Harry. Will you be able to…?"

"Of course." Harry said, confident in his ability to raise the girl.

Ginny's smile turned amused and mirthful. "I meant breast feed, Harry."

He blushed bright red and sputtered. Bethany moved in his arms, letting out a tiny yawn and opening her eyes; he was right, they were grey, just like Astra's but they had a darker tint to them. Now that he looked, he saw that there was a lot of resemblance between Astra and Bethany, though there were obvious points where it wasn't Astra's features.

Grey, curious eyes peered up at the now wide eyed teens, who immidiatly melted at the sight. Ginny swept her out of his arms, and cooed at her.

"Bethany Hermia Potter." Harry whispered to Ginny, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend.

Ginny grinned up at him. "A perfect name for an adorable baby."

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING WITH A BABY?!" Ron's shout broke their little honey-moon like moment, and both blushed at the implications.

"RON-"

"ITS NOT LIKE-"


	2. Chapter 2

**LETS ALL PRETNED THAT THE AGES OF THE KIDS FIT AND THE FACT THAT SOME KIDS SHOULDN'T BE THAT OLD **_**CAN**_** BE THAT OLD!**

Harry James Potter and his wife, Ginerva 'Ginny' Molly Potter nee Weasley, were quite content in their modest flat in an apartment building in Kansas, America. Their children loved it there as well, with their cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents visiting every other weekend. Their eldest, Teddy Lupin Potter, age nine, was adopted; his parents, Remus and Nymphadora 'Tonks' Lupin, died _officially_ in a car accident on the way home from a date together, while Teddy had been staying at his Grandmothers. Then there was their second eldest, off by only three months (July 5th) was Bethany Hermia Olympia Potter, also adopted; they had adopted her from an orphanage when she was five, in England where they had once all lived.

Then there were the children by blood, three of them. James Sirius Potter, the official middle child at eight years old, was the embodiment of his namesakes, James Potter the First and Sirius Black; both were notorious pranksters back in their days at Scotland's Privet Academy for the Academically Gifted. Then there was Albus Severus Potter, the second youngest at seven; he was the only one of the three to inherit their father's (and then Grandmother's) green eyes, and was named after Harry's late mentors, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. The youngest of the five children was young Lily Luna Potter, at age five, who had inherited her mother's looks; she was named after her Grandmother, Lily Potter nee Evans the First, and her mother's best friend, Luna Lovegood.

The backstories for Teddy and Bethany were, of course, a lie to tell the neighbors and authorities of Kansas. Just like how Teddy's light blonde hair and bright blue eyes were not real; truthfully, only Bethany, Harry and Ginny knew what he really looked like, as he was a Metamorphamegus, and therefore, like his mother Tonks, changed his looks a lot. When not in public, that is.

Teddy's parents had truthfully died in the Battle of Hogwarts against Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters. No one knew where Astra Olympia, Bethany's mother, or her unknown father was. Astra had basically disappeared off the planet.

All five children went to a 'Muggle' school, which meant non magical, but only four of them would be going to a magical school, Hogwarts. Those four were Teddy, James, Albus and Lily.

Bethany, at age nine, would be going to a camp that her mother had requested where she would be going to. She had also told Harry that they would be in danger as Bethany grew, and back when she was five in England, they'd found out what that meant. Monsters of all kinds would try and kill Bethany if she came near her, and some even sought her out. They weren't just regular old monsters from the Magical Community; these were Ancient Greek Myth monsters, straight out a Greek Mythology book.

That's why they had moved to America, and to Kansas; it was at the center of the continent, with a direct path of tornados, and even less monsters around. That didn't mean they were safe; all of them carried an emergency portkey on them, Ginny and Harry always had their wands, and Bethany and Teddy secretly carried around kitchen knives in their backpacks for extra protection.

The camp that Astra had told Harry to take Bethany to was supposed to be for those like her, and it was also for protection. This was how the whole Potter family found themselves on a road trip to New York.

Their tiny Volkswagen, old fashioned as it was, was the only electronic device that didn't short out if it wasn't Bethany who was using it. Magic and electricity didn't mix well, and it was only because Bethany didn't have magic that she could use things like that at all. This prompted Harry to buy her electronics, to make up for her lack of magic; stupid, and not really useful, but Bethany was considered a genius of sorts, always designing things.

She wasn't very good at math, though. That's where Teddy came in.

Mostly, she designed furniture. She made virtual models of beds, couches, bookshelves, tables, chandeliers, anything. Teddy was probably the only one who ever got a good look at the designs, either; those two were as thick as thieves, and had figured out a way for Teddy to be able to use technology, though they refused to tell anyone, even their Aunt, Hermione Weasley nee Granger.

The car was full to the brim, the trunk having their shrunken suit cases in it. Bethany's were much more plentiful, though, seeing as she wouldn't be returning till summer time. Harry sat in the drivers seat, driving of course, with Ginny in the passenger. Bethany and Teddy were in the row behind him, doing something on her Apple Ipad. The row behind was filled with James and Albus, Lily squished between them.

There were many times that both parents wished James and Lily were as well behaved as Teddy, Albus and Bethany. The two children were fighting very loudly, enough for Teddy – calm spirited, reserved, Remus-in-a-child-body, Teddy – to turn around and glare at them.

"Be quiet!" He ordered them, his hair changing from the black curls he'd had it to bright angry red spikes, eyes going black; the sight was enough to scare the eight year old and five year old into silence, and Teddy smiled, going back to his former look. "Thank you. Now, you were saying, Bet?"

She rolled her eyes. "I was saying I was thinking about doing a little Italian-style for this coffee table here. See how it would look with this…?"

She tapped the stylus thing she always had to the Ipad, and Teddy's eyes widened in awe. "Whoa, that's really cool looking." Bethany smiled brightly, and Harry's chuckled, averting his eyes from the mirror to the road again.

Bethany really was smart. But she was just as stubborn when he himself was when she found something to meddle in, and never gave up about it till the very end. The way she jumped into things so quickly reminded him of himself, as well as the way she took to her self defense classes that all the kids would take when they reached eight; Teddy and James were also taking it. It almost made him wonder if Bethany was biologically his, but then he'd come to his senses and remember that before his and Ginny's wedding night, he was a virgin. Ginny, not so much. She had been quite the player back in Hogwarts, he remembered.

Teddy, on the other hand, was just like his father Remus in his love for books and quiet solitude (that is, in Teddy's own words, "As long as Bets there.") but like Tonks, he was as clumsy as a dragon in Madam Puddifoots. He also had the habit of changing his hair to outrageous colors, his most favorable being teal and dark blue.

Together, though, the little duo could do as much damage as Fred the First and George had back in their Hogwarts years, but not nearly as much as George did in his shop. Even that was toned down since Fred died, and he'd married Angelina and had two kids (a daughter named Roxanne about Albus' age, and Fred the second, about James' age). Victoire, Dominique and Louis, though, were all very overprotective of their younger cousins. Victoire was only a few months older than Teddy, Dominique was eleven and Louis was thirteen. The trio of beautiful blonde haired, freckled, blue eyed small-part Veela children were like the official body gaurds.

Hugo, Ron and Hermione's kid who was six and very close to Lily, was very shy and timid, nothing like Ron or Hermione, so it was kind of a shock. Rose, though, who was eight, had Ron's confidence and big mouth, and Hermione's book smarts. She was only a little below Bethany in the grades of Muggle school.

Charlie Weasley was still a single man, living it up in Romania with his beloved dragons. Not that this surprised any of the Weasley-Potter family, and he was the best 'fun Uncle' the children could want.

To Harry though, he thought, as he looked at his own children once more, all of them were perfect.

Following the directions that Bethany was saying from the GPS-app-thingy on her Ipad, whatever that was, they finally got to the bottom of a hill with a pine tree at the top and a strawberry farm. Harry's stomach dropped; could Astra, all that time, been messing with him about a safe place for his daughter to go to?

"Stay in the car, kids, we'll be right back." Harry told them as he and Ginny unbuckled their seat belts at the side of the road.

"Teddy, your in charge." Ginny told the boy, whose hair turned orange in smugness. Harry rolled his eyes.

They walked up the hill to the pine and looked around. Nothing.

"Do you think she was lying?" Harry whispered, feeling his stomach churn at the thought of his old mentor lying to him.

"No." Ginny said. "There has to be a place like she told you about."

"But what if she was?" Harry asked Ginny harshly. "What if the camp she told us about, the one that Bet would be safe from those monsters at, isn't real? There's nothing here but strawberries and pine cones!"

"We happen to like strawberries and pine cones." A deep voice said behind him, and he spun around instinctively, Astra's old teachings still running strong in the twenty six year old man. "Whoa, there, easy. My name is Chiron. Would you perhaps be looking for Camp Halfblood?"

Standing behind them was a white palomino Centaur, with shaggy brown hair and goatee, and warm brown eyes. He had on leather armor with a bow and quiver strapped to his back, and leather wrist bands on his forearms.

Harry's eyes widened; that's what Astra had called it. "Yes, that's it. Do you know where it is?" Then, as Ginny smacked his arm lightly, he blushed. "Sorry, that was rude of me. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Chiron, I'm Harry, and this is my wife, Ginny."

"For mortals, you aren't very surprised at seeing a Centaur." Chiron noted lightly, and almost suspiciously.

"We're from Magical Britain, actually," Ginny told Chiron, who's eyebrows rose and fell in understanding. "One of Harry's mentors gave him a child to raise, and said that when she was older, Camp Halfblood was the safest place for her. That she could come home in summer, and go back in fall. That none of those old timey Greek monsters could get to her."

Chiron chuckled lightly. "Old timey…they wouldn't appreciate that, but yes, Camp Halfblood is for Halfbloods, but not the sort your thinking of. Tell me, who was this friend of yours and what did she look like."

"Astra Olympia." Harry told him, and Chiron's lips quirked upwards. "She was tall, quite imposing and intimidating actually, with long blond hair and grey eyes. She taught me and my friend Hermione some stuff and trained us. Showed up, nine months later, with Bethany for me to raise. Haven't heard a word of her since."

Chiron nodded, a donning realization on his face. "Lady Athena, then. Now I know why Lady Hecate had such mixed feelings about her many years ago." Then, he seemed to notice that he'd said it out loud and coughed lightly. "If you could fetch your companions, I will show you to Camp and explain everything."

Harry nodded, and whispered to Ginny. "Go get the kids, love."

She nodded, and hurried down the hill, leaving Harry alone with Chiron.

"We have four other kids with us, our children." Harry told him, and Chiron blinked. "That won't be a problem, will it?"

"No, of course not." Chiron placated him. "Just never heard of such a large family with a Halfblood in it."

Harry's eyes narrowed, but he made no reply. Ginny appeared, with Lily on her hip, James clutching one leg, Albus the other, while Teddy and Bethany walked side by side, Bethany clutching her shoulder bag tightly; it was the same one Astra had had when they'd met.

"Kids, this is Chiron, be polite." Harry introduced them to him, and then to Chiron. "The red headed girl is Lily, she's five; the little boy with green eyes is Albus, he's seven, he brown eyed one is James, he's eight, the one with teal hair at the moment is Teddy and the blonde girl is Bethany, Astra's daughter, and they're both nine."

Chiron smiled at them warmly like a grandfather. "It's nice to meet you, little ones."

Lily smiled, Albus blushed, James stared, Teddy blinked, and Bethany studied him with such precision Harry had seen in Astra whenever she was teaching them battle strategy by using a fake scenario. Chiron seemed to notice it, too, and muttered something Harry couldn't quite understand.

That was when Bethany noticed something, and rushed forward past the pine tree to stare at the empty fields. "Wow! Is this the Camp, Dad?"

Harry blinked, brow furrowing, not noticing Chiron's nod. "Camp? Sweetie, there's nothing there."

"Do you need meds, Bet?" Teddy joked.

"No, no, Miss Bethany is quite right." Chiron said, trotting forward. "I, Chiron, give the Potter Family permission to enter Camp Halfblood."

Then, like water falling off glass, a whole camp was revealed before them. Harry could see a dining pavilion in the distance, rows upon rows of Cabins, volleyball courts, stables, and a lake. Despite the fall weather, and the leaves littering the ground, past the point of the pine it was bright and sunny, and Harry felt a warm breeze brush against him.

"What…what is this?" He whispered, and Chiron placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Do not worry, Mr. Potter, all will be explained. I should perhaps start with this first; Greek myths are absolutely real."


End file.
